2490 New notebook time

My new notebook has pretty roses. I blog a lot, but in going through the old one, I found 40+ topics I had noted, but either wrote about something else, or decided against it.

1)Karen Schoemer's book, "Great Pretenders; my strange affair with 50's pop music." This article about how she meets and admires Pat Boone was in American History, March 2006.

4) Poetry in medical journals, Cancer prayer. "Hope is sometimes a puddle/of stale rainwater for a parched mouth. . ." Marc J. Straus, MD

9) Movies that got it wrong.

11) Rituals of our lives.

12) Childhood obesity--watching mothers pick up their children at pre-school.

13) 13 things to lie awake and worry about (for a Thursday Thirteen).

14) Automobile advertising--photo doesn't match the small print.

15) Textbooks in libraries.

16) What I remember from the 70s.

20) End of life laws in Britain.

22) $150 billion--Americans paid to tax preparers and accountants for help with taxes

23) "Sometime we get manuscripts from dead people. I don't mean the living dead, though we get those too." Poetry editorial, March 2006.

25) Letters to the editor; put downs and set ups. [This one's practically finished--I'll have to take another look on a slow day]

26) Did I ever tell you about my Mustang? [for a Monday Memories]

27) Social changes in our society with self-employment/at home employment.

28) Cigna ad "Benefits of caring."

29) Dumbing down curricula to raise performance of low-income and immigrant children.

30) Verizon's content guidelines--seem to be much stricter than churches, TV, libraries, etc.

31) The gene that protects against alcoholism

32) OSU Lantern ad--is this ethical?

36) Do adverbs matter? darkly striking, smiled sweetly, closely followed, probably true

38) Two men sharing a loaf of cinnamon bread [this was for Coffee Spills]

39) Bush's tax cuts--capital gains revenues have increased by 79.9% 2002-2004. Total income slice going to the richest 1%, 5% and 10% of Americans is lower than during the Clinton years.

40) Lots of real estate ad stories, like the furnished 2 bdrm in Bayfield overlooking Madeline Island with fireplace, deck, kitchen, for $190,000.

42) Ilaria Montagnani and kick boxing.

43) Government growth under Bush. (sounds like a gardening story, doesn't it?) Biggest growth in gov't regs is in Security and Exchange Commission, FDA, IRS and ATF--we've got 66,000 more snoopers. Gov't regs are costing us about $8,000 per household.

44) Poetry editor of JAMA is Charlene Breedlove--she published a poem by Joannie Strangeland. Am I the only one who finds that funny? Pseudonyms?

And to think I have a box of these old notebooks--all with stories hoping to be written. Instead, they languish in blog hell.

2489 America’s Diabesity Problem

There’s a word my spell check flags. DIABESITY. It's a combination of two words--one disease and one condition--diabetes and obesity. Dr. Val Jones at Medscape.com this week says:

"America's diabesity problem is not about moral failure, laziness, or lack of effort. It's about the wrong philosophical underpinnings. We have fallen for the idea that there is a quick fix for everything -- especially weight loss. We look to fad diets, extreme athletics, diet pills, and surgical interventions as a miracle cure for all of our problems.

We must make a philosophical frame shift towards a rehabilitation model of weight control. Why rehab? Because rehabilitation involves a long-term commitment; an acknowledgment that the opportunity for weight regain will never go away; and that an individualized, multidisciplinary approach has the best chance of success.

Rehabilitation literally means "the restoration of lost capabilities." It is a hopeful word, because it presumes that individuals have the capacity to improve, to walk farther, feel better, maintain a healthy weight, and add life to years. Rehabilitation medicine physicians use an integrative, holistic approach to wellness. They coordinate teams of physical therapists, occupational therapists, social workers, psychologists, and nutritionists to help patients meet their goals. For this reason, I believe that rehab specialists are the best equipped to provide the kind of complex, long-term solution that is required to reverse the diabesity epidemic. Let's rehabilitate America!"

Why does this concept make me feel so uncomfortable? Is it the "We must. . ." phrase that makes me envision even more government fingers in our food and athletic socks? I don’t think rehab is a positive word for most people--not if you've ever suffered through restoring a shoulder after rotator cuff surgery, or arm mobility after a mastectomy. And yes, I'd say looking for a quick fix is a type of laziness, Ms. Jones.

I'm a bit heavier than I'd like to be--maybe 15 pounds, and to be honest, it isn't fast food, it is just f-o-o-d. Too much, too often. There. I've said it. I'm now walking 2-3 miles a day, but I also just made a peanut butter chocolate pie. I won't gobble it down in one sitting--I'll only have one small piece a day--my husband will eat half. And I'll eat it--gasp!--because it tastes good. It tastes a heck of a lot better than exercise feels. Move more + eat less works every time. No team, no therapist, no counseling. There. That's my philosophy, Ms. Jones.

obesity
diabesity
exercise
health

2488 Notice to Ohio Restaurants and Contractors

I am sick to death of hearing our local business people whine that they can't find American workers--no, not find them, what they say in Ohio is American workers won't work as hard or as long as the Mexicans. Well, fellas, just keep it up because the unions are salivating just waiting to get ahold of your fine Mexican roofers and rough carpenters, and you won't be paying them $8.00 an hour then. You may be saving money on the front end, but the rest of us are paying on the back end. And when you've given the country away? Then what? How about I stroll into a restaurant or show up at the job site wearing one of these?

If you're hiring illegals, you too are an illegal, the only difference is you know better and you are a citizen.

Illegal immigration

2487 Why can illegals get Social Security and I can't?

"The Senate voted yesterday to allow illegal aliens to collect Social Security benefits based on past illegal employment -- even if the job was obtained through forged or stolen documents." Story here.

I wonder if I got Mexican citizenship and snuck back across the border, I'd be able to collect my own Social Security?

Because my pension is from state teachers (STRS Ohio), I can't collect either my SS or the spousal part of my husband's. I think the NEA really ought to look into this, although I know it would rip out their liberal souls to do it. And yes, I'm well aware this happened under Reagan; that doesn't make it right to give criminals with forged IDs and SS numbers benefits and deny them to me.

Would almost serve 'em right if it was my SS number they stole! They couldn't get a dime.

Illegal immigration
Social Security

2486 I can hardly wait

Shock magazine will be on the newstands next week. I collect premiere issues. The word is . . . Gross photos. Uncensored stories. Rotting flesh. Celebs. Oh, goody. Sounds like just another laddie mag. Maybe I'll pass.

New York Post story: "One of the few launches from a major magazine publisher will hit newsstands on May 30 when Hachette Filipacchi Media unleashes Shock with a print run of 300,000 and a cover price of only $1.99.

"We think we are a category buster with a new product," said Hachette Filipacchi CEO Jack Kliger.

The magazine's content will range from the bizarre to the sexy - although only the Web site will have the nudity that made it into print in a French version, Choc, launched two-and-a-half years ago.

"We're certainly going to show images that press the envelope a little bit," said Mike Hammer, the editor-in-chief of the American version and formally the editor-in-chief of Dennis Publishing's Stuff."

Well, the price on the first issue looks OK. New issues are up around $4-$5.00. Newstand and subscription price means nothing. Wired is $10.00 a year because it is loaded with expensive advertising. I think there aren't a whole lot of advertisers for this genre.

2485 How's she doing?

Here's the record of my representative, Deborah Pryce, dist. 15 (Columbus, Grove City, Marysville) on immigration. Ohio's Senators, DeWine and Voinovich, are graded a D on this web site, Americans for Better Immigration, and she gets a C. Definitely a helpful site.

Update: As of today, DeWine went from a D to an F; Voinovich went from a D+ to a D.

Deborah Pryce
Illegal immigration
George Voinovich
Mike DeWine

2484 Friday Fourteen on Immigration

To my knowledge, there is nothing going around called the Friday Fourteen, but Tran Sient's Watch had fourteen phrases that are obfuscating the issue, and this is Friday, so . . . It was too good to pass up.

1. Living in the Shadows – There is a very easy way to come out from the shadows. Walk right back where you came from and declare yourself free from shadows.

2. The jobs Americans will not do – I’m not going to take the time to rail against this again. It deserves its own post.

3. Undocumented immigrant/laborer – Oh please, we aren’t that stupid.

4. Nation of Immigrants – Perhaps we should erase the borders and declare ourselves to be an amorphous confederation of wanderers.

5. Comprehensive Immigration Bill/Reform – Let them stay and become citizens or we do nothing about the border. Either way its come one, come all. Screw you American Taxpayer.

6. Militarizing the border – If you don’t like it, go home and complain to the Mexican military/drug runners on your side of the border. See if they can help you.

7. We Are America – Over my cold dead corpse.

8. Legislation that would criminalize illegal immigrants – Call me confused. Is it currently legal to be illegal?

9. A day without Immigrants – Shouldn’t that have been ‘undocumented wandering laborers’? Why limit it to a day?

10. Pay back taxes – How much income tax does one pay on an ‘undocumented worker’s’ salary? I’m thinking that those W2s from the last five years are going to be hard to find.

11. Catch and Release – Large mouth, brim or trout?

12. Pro-Immigration – Pro-Illegal-Immigration

13. Path to Citizenship - Amnesty

14. Guest-Worker Program - Amnesty

illegal immigration
Amnesty

2483 Time to pack it in

These 18 Republicans need to be removed the next time they come up for reelection. I've borrowed the list from Powder Blue Report and haven't checked, but I see DeWine and Voinovich of Ohio are on the list of Republican Senators who voted against enforcing our immigration laws (Johnny Isakson's amendment).

We've got a serious ménage à trois here with the unions, the Democrats and business interests. The unions need fodder for membership; Democrats need a permanent class of victims for votes; and shoddy businesses need cheap labor. Any American who thinks we benefit from this cheap labor needs to look at the other side of the ledger and total the social costs, including crime, education, housing, uninsured drivers and health care to name just a few. Most states are going bankrupt from Medicaid costs--but illegal immigrants can get it. Amnesty. Shamesty. They aren't interested in U.S. citizenship--they're just sending money home. Their own worthless government needs it so their light skinned Euro leaders can stay in power.

I personally don't think we need a wall, a fence or new laws. We need some law enforcement. What if the rest of us just decided to stop obeying laws we don't find economically convenient--like income tax, zoning, family leave, Title IX, emission standards. If illegals can do it, why can't we? But these idiots don't even see the need to secure the borders while they figure out what to do. How many more millions will stream across while these folks dither and quiver?

Bennett (R-UT)
Brownback (R-KS)
Chafee (R-RI)
Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Craig (R-ID)
DeWine (R-OH)
Graham (R-SC)
Hagel (R-NE)
Lugar (R-IN)
Martinez (R-FL)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Shelby (R-AL)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Stevens (R-AK)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (R-VA)

Illegal immigration
George Voinovich
Mike DeWine

We miss you Dad

My Dad died four years ago--May 18, 2002. This photo, which I think was taken about a year before he died, makes me smile because he's standing in front of a shelving unit with a plate behind his head, and it looks like a halo! Christians don't believe we'll become angels, but we do believe in a bodily, physical resurrection, and I know that someday Dad won't have the frail body you see in this photo. He'll be strong and healthy and doing the Lord's work.

Thursday Thirteen about the Da Vinci Code

Don't let Dan Brown or Ron Howard ensnare you in their web. The book and movie are fiction, but even the background that Brown calls "fact" is false. If I wrote a novel and screenplay about 9/11 and placed the WTC in Columbus, OH, and made the terrorists Dutch nationals you'd probably think it a bit screwed up even if Tom Hanks played the lead.

The New Testament was pretty much completed before the end of the first century after Christ, so Brown's just a victim of his own imagination on that one. The Priory of Sion has been proven to be a hoax, not from the 11th century, but from the 1950s created by Pierre Plantard. Brown's whole novel depends on this hoax, which he claims to be fact.

1) The Council of Nicaea didn't decide the divinity of Jesus. There have been Dan Browns around for 2,000 years and a few in 325 for the Council.

2) Long before the Council of Nicaea (325 AD), Jesus declares himself God to his followers and they believed him. Brown ignored not only the testimony of Jesus, all his disciples, the writers of the Gospels but also these men (called church fathers), all of whom wrote for believers before the Council took place:

3) Ignatius and Clement, 1st century

4) Justin Martyr, Irenaeus and Tertullian, 2nd century

5) Origen, Novatian, Cyprian and Methodius, 3rd century

6) Lactatius and Arnobius, 4th century

7) Mary Magdalene was the first witness to the resurrection and wasn't a prostitute.

8) There is no Biblical evidence that Jesus was married, and no reason to keep it a secret if he was. His first miracle was at a wedding; he held a much higher view of marriage than the current Christian church.

9) Da Vinci says the figure in the painting is John. He's the artist, so he should know.

10) There's a lot of evidence that Dan Brown plagarized huge sections of another book and there's huge evidence that by the end of the first century A.D. Christians accepted the current books of the Bible. So who you gonna believe? A guy who makes his living writing fiction and laughs all the way to the bank, or the guys who died for their beliefs?

11) Constantine had converted to Christianity, so he wasn't a pagan, and he had nothing to do with deciding books for inclusion.

12) The Dead Sea Scrolls are Jewish and pre-date Jesus.

13) Gnostic gospels were written much later than the books of the New Testament and are basically Greek, not lst century Jewish. They also did not value women, as Jesus clearly did.

"Discussing the Da Vinci Code" by Lee Strobel and Garry Poole, Zondervan, 2006.

Banner photo by Donald Kinney, Pestbouncer.com
Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants
The purpose of the meme is to visit and become acquainted with fellow Thirteeners. If you participate, leave your link and a comment. Then I'll visit you. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
Da Vinci Code

2481 My new walking companion

My walking routine is up to about 2.5-3 miles a day, depending on the weather. Joining another group of ladies here and abroad on the internet has really helped. Yesterday at the library I checked out the audio book "Christ the Lord; out of Egypt" by Anne Rice. I've never read her vampire stuff--actually, I rarely read fiction unless it is selected by my book club. This book has had excellent reviews (but then, many like Dan Brown's fictionalized/ fabricated "history" too). This book uses a real person, Jesus as a young child, but is based on the Gospels and New Testament scholarship--not that that would guarantee a faithful reinterpretation of the facts, but I'll give it a shot--for a walk in the park.

2480 I want one of these

Seen at CafePress.

2479 What's wrong with this picture?

Technorati today says there are 39.9 million blogs, so let's just say 40 million. And I am ranked 2,523, but I'm not in the top 100,000. OK, I can handle that. I don't think it has a way to track all seven of my blogs together, and even blogger.com gets that number wrong, showing something like 9,000+ posts when I can only find about 3,500. But here's a strange thing. Technorati has a little chart that tells how many posts you have per day. This chart says I posted 15 times on May 11. Now that was Thursday Thirteen, but there were only 3 posts. It doesn't count comments, because there were 40. So what is it tracking?The number one blog on technorati is in Chinese. They have a few billion head start on us. There are some gadget blogs doing well like Gizmodo and Lifehacker. Left wing bloggers have spawned, regardless of what they say about the right taking over the country. A couple of blogs I link to are in the top 100.

2478 What I don't understand about safety

I'm just saying, does this make sense to you, because I don't get it.

No one has died from exposure to DDT. But millions die every year in the third world from malaria which could be virtually eradicated by DDT spraying of standing water.

Pain medications that help millions are pulled off the market and the drug companies are sued if a couple of elderly men die of a heart attack while taking them. This leaves millions to live a life of disability from chronic pain.

No one seems able to decide if HRT is safe for menopausal women. Meanwhile a few million of them wish they were dead or are so depressed from lack of sleep they could qualify for disability.

Illegal immigrants are bringing virulent strains of TB into the food prep areas of our restaurants, and to the crowded houses and apartments they are sharing with other "undocumented" folks, some children in our schools, but we're getting movies and warnings about birds who also ignore our borders.

Bariatric surgery has a rather high morbidity and mortality rate (in my opinion), and even higher for the duodenal switch. Diet drugs disappear from the market if studies show a few random heart attacks or strokes. Why not this surgery for weight loss which is becoming increasingly popular?

Artificial fingernails are a cesspool of germs in every study. Why do you still see women with them in hospitals, clinics, veterinary facilities and food prep areas?

Taking a wild guess, I'd say, "follow the money." If there is no drug company to sue, safety is a lower priority for protest groups.

drug safety
bariatric surgery
malaria
artificial fingernails
Menopause
tuberculosis

2477 What several strokes feel like

BigMamaDoc writes about her series of strokes two weeks ago--and I wondered as I read it if being a doctor helped her at all, or if what saved her was her sister who knew she was acting peculiar and got her to the ER. She said everything was irritating her, like she was being rubbed down with sandpaper.

I'll always be grateful to the doctor my daughter worked for, who instead of firing her, told her she was getting so crabby, he wanted her to see an endocrinologist. He found a massive goiter, starting to suffocate her, and when it and her thyroid were removed, they found the cancer.

So if you're acting strangely, let's hope someone doesn't keep quiet about it.

2476 Americans are losing to the Brits

the battle of the bulge. We are more likely to be overweight and are less healthy. I looked all through the article in JAMA 2006;295:2037-2045, and "based on self-reported illnesses and biological markers of disease, US residents are much less healthy than their English counterparts and these differences exist at all points of the SES distribution." The study used citizens over 50 who were non-Hispanic whites so that they weren't dealing with problems of immigration in either country.

Still, I submit that a white American isn't ethnically or genetically the same as a white citizen of Britain. Even though we speak English, that is not our dominate ethnic group. All of my father's ancestors were Scots-Irish, all of my mother's were Swiss and German (although there was no Germany when they arrived here). I think the researchers need to take a closer look at our differences, not just our social economic scores and education levels.

Smoking is a big problem in both countries in this age group, and that contibutes to lung disease, cancer, and myocardial infarctions. But obesity is, pardon the pun, huge in the USA contributing to higher rates of diabetes, hypertension, and myocardial infarctions.

I read this article in print, which is much easier than in pixels, but you can click open the tables and see the information. You really can't dispute that we're fat and not so healthy. I just don't think they've sniffed out the reasons for the differences (other than weight).

2475 Pervert in the library

The Annoyed Librarian is back! She writes about the recent arrest of a pervert using a library terminal to solicit teen-agers for sex.

"I hope the ALA strikes hard and fast to defend the right of this pervert to pick up teenage girls with public library computers. Don't the New York State Police realize that it is an invasion of his privacy and intellectual freedom to arrest him for soliciting sex from a minor on a public library terminal?"

You go girl.

2474 Da Vinci Code Movie

I've written about this at my other, other blog.

Da Vinci Code movie

2473 Screaming at the radio

Bob Conners, a local radio drive-time talk personality on WTVN 610 a.m. has a beautiful voice. He finds interesting things to talk about and occasionally interviews people about the economy or tourism or education. What makes me want to scream at the radio is the taped interviews for public service announcements. Last week it was a woman describing some kind of nursing program. Her voice was like fingernails on a blackboard--so nasal and unpleasant. And she spoke so fast, I couldn't wait to finish parking the car so I could jam the off button. Don't producers or sound engineers help these people?

Six Ten also has terrible male "voices" doing weather updates. There was (is?) a guy with a Greek surname whose diction and phrasing were so bad that I'd immediately change stations if he came on. I'd rather look out the window and take my chances. Not only was it "rip and read," but I would actually blush on his behalf. He was either an intern or the owner's son-in-law looking for work. I hope someone told him he didn't have the right face for radio.

2472 Reality advice

Columbus Alive (local entertainment newspaper) has an advice column called "Heart to heart." The last issue addressed the problem of a 22 year old woman who was watching so much reality TV that her boyfriend complained because they could never go anywhere or do anything. The advice maven suggested she pick 2 shows to follow and realize she was doing it to save the relationship. Now, if it were me, I'd have suggested she dump the boyfriend, because obviously he was so boring she was numbing her mind with reality TV.